The Blue Brother
by JetWarrior
Summary: Boomer feels that he must prove himself to his brothers. Luckily, there's one person in Townsville who may just be able to help him with such an endeavor...
1. The Beginning

_Hey, thanks for checking out this story! It's only my second one on this site...hope you enjoy it! Ahh...couple notes before we start. One: I thought that this would be an obvious premise to an episode of the show, but as it never happened, I'm doing a story on it. The characters are just as they appear in the show at its latest point. Two: there won't be any romance or any hints of romance or anything of that sort between anyone in this fic at all. Just to let you know. And three: I don't own anything, so suing me would be worthless to you. That is all..._

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"Dude, that was so lame!"

"Yeah, dude, that was such a sissy thing to do!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"But you _did_ do it, and it was totally lame!"

"Yeah, it was such a sissy thing to do!"

"It's not like I _wanted_ to save those people..."

"But...you...did!"

"Yeah, and it was such a sissy-"

"All right, I get it already!"

"So what have you got to say for yourself, then?"

"Yeah...now that you're a **_hero_**!"

* * *

The city of Townsville was a very cheerful place this early-Spring Saturday, due to the fact that it was unusually warm; you know, the type of day where you just had to get out go somewhere. The popular destination today was the beach; that's where one could find a couple hundred Townies relaxing, as well as an untold amount of tourists. It was also where the Rowdyruff Boys decided to hang out today. They had had their mischeivious fun, as usual: burying people neck-deep into the sand (by shoving them by the shoulders), setting umbrellas on fire, stealing people's coolers...the usual. After a while, Brick had ransacked the surf shack and they were actually enjoying themselves on the water (without causing too much trouble for once), when they spotted a gigatic sea monster head ashore. It roared with the middle of its three heads, sending the people fleeing in all directions. Butch, however, gave a loud howl of excitement. 

"All right, finally! Some action! I was starting to get bored with all this surfing."

"You're just saying that cuz you suck at surfing!" Boomer joked. Butch didn't find it too amusing however. He glared at his brother.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me! You couldn't stay on your board if it were glued to your face!"

There was no response to that other than Butch slapping his hand to his face. Instead of replying, Brick only groaned and yelled, "Would you guys just shut up and come on? It'll be long gone before we even get there!" They abandoned their boards and flew towards the shore. The monster sensed them coming and turned two of its heads to meet them (the third kept its focus on the beach). The boys flew in close and got ready to start pounding on the monster when it unleashed its attack: the far left head threw out orange flames that hit Boomer and knocked him to the beach, while the head on the right caught Butch by letting out a sickly-green-looking gas.

"I can't breathe! This stuff smells like Brick's breath!" Butch said while trying to fly up and out of reach of the green gas. Brick, however, wasn't paying attention to his brothers; he was focused on the back of the middle head, which he socked dead center with a powerful punch. The monster roared loudly, but Brick wasn't finished. He grabbed that neck, and with a mighty heave tossed the monster up towards the sky, where Butch was waiting for it. He sent it flying back down to Earth with a gigantic kick to its body.

"Boomer, he's comin' your way!"

Boomer shook his head and looked up. He wasn't in the right position to finish the job...he had to get there fast! Getting to his feet, Boomer took off towards where the monster was going to land...towards a big group of tourists who were too busy snapping photos of the monster to notice that they were in danger.

"Get outta the way!" Boomer shoved the entire group out of the monsters path, and in doing so sacrificed what little time he had left to attack the monster. It landed right on top of him with a resounding BOOM! Brick and Butch just stared at the monster, not quite sure of what had happened. But that was a short lived silence.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the both of them guffawed out loud. They then flew down towards the beach, laughing the entire time.

Boomer had recovered from the initial shock of being flattened by a multi-ton beast, and decided to put this thing out of its misery. He shot his eyebeams straight up and through the monster, spilling its guts all over him. He didn't mind though; he was sure it would make him look cool in front of his brothers. Poor boy didn't know...

The other two had landed on top of the monster when Boomer finally tore up through the hole he had made. His face wore a confused look once he realized that they were laughing. They weren't supposed to be laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"Dude, you...HAHAHAHA!...you totally...HAHAHAHA!" Butch couldn't continue because he was laughing so hard. Brick tried to finish for him.

"You saved those people, man!"

"WHAT?!"

Butch gasped between each howl. "Yeah! I mean, how stupid do you have to be to let yourself get pancaked just to save some people!? HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Boomer was in shock...he _had_ saved that group of people, hadn't he? How could he let himself do such a thing?

"I didn't save those people," he defended, "they were in my way!"

"And you pushed them out of the way just to let yourself get flattened by that monster!" Butch erupted once more into laughter.

"Yeah!" Brick continued, "'Look at me! I'm Boomer! Don't worry, citizens, I'll save you! SPLAT!' HAHAHAHA! Dude, that was so lame!"

Butch had finally calmed down a bit. "Yeah, dude, that was such a sissy thing to do!"

Boomer was still vainly trying to defend himself. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"But you _did_ do it, and it was totally lame!"

"Yeah, it was such a sissy thing to do!" Butch added.

"It's not like I _wanted_ to save those people..."

"But...you...did!" Bric said slowly.

"Yeah, and it was such a sissy-"

"All right, I get it already!" Boomer was getting tired of this.

"So what have you got to say for yourself, then?"

"Yeah...now that you're a hero!"

Boomer was offended. "Don't call me that!"

"Why not, hero? That's what you are: a hero!" Butch retorted.

"Yeah, why don't you go join those Wussypuff Girls if you want to be a hero so much!"

"Why don't you go join those Wussypuff Girls _yourself_?" Boomer shot back. Brick just laughed. It was too easy. "Because I'm not the one who just became a hero, duh!"

"So?"

"So," Butch answered, "Go join those Girls if you want to spend all your time saving people, cuz that's not what Rowdyruffs do! In fact, I bet one of those girls could be a better Rowdyruff than you can!"

That hurt. "No, they couldn't!"

"Ha! Bet one of 'em could! I bet anybody could be a better Rowdyruff than you, Boomer!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Boomer had finally had enough. "Fine! I'll prove to you guys why I'm a Rowdyruff! Then you'll see! You guys'll be sorry you ever called me a hero!" And with that, he flew off. His brothers just stood there for a second watching him fly away, then caught each others eyes...before once again being floored in fits of laughter.

Boomer had flown off towards the city. He had almost wanted to cry. Almost. Now all that he felt was anger...anger at his brothers for making fun of him, anger at himself for saving those people, anger at the sea monster for giving him back pains. He decided to focus that anger into something that might help prove his Rowdyruff-ness. And that's when a rare moment of inspiration hit him. The afformentioned "Wussypuff Girls"...he'd take them down! Well, maybe not all of them at once (none of the Rowdyruffs were stupid enough to challenge the girls three-on-one), but one of them. And depending on how well that went, he may even go after another one...then maybe another one! Boomer could already see his brothers applauding him as he presented the defeated Powerpuff Girls. Delusions of grandeur? Only to sane people...but to Boomer, it was a course of action.

The only trouble now was finding one of them. Lucky for him, it wasn't hard. Once he had reached the middle of the city, they were easy to spot. They were doing a simple fly-over, and even more lucky, they were flying over each area of the city separetely. This was Boomer's best chance to catch one of them off-guard. He flew low and noticed that one of them was heading towards the forest. Not only was that far out of the way from interuptions, but for Boomer, it was home turf. There was no further debates; he decided to follow that one.

Anyone care to harbor a guess as to whom "that one" is?

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_And that's all for now! I'll have the next chapter up one day soon. Please review if you wish!_


	2. Forest Blue

_Next chapter...lotsa action here. Oh, yeah, and to answer a question, all characters are exactly as they were during the latest part of the series. Hope you enjoy it! And I don't own anything, so sue-age would be a load of crap.  
_

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Bubbles had always enjoyed the forest. It was her favorite place to patrol in all of Townsville, for more reasons than just being able to see all of her animal friends. She just thought it was the most beautiful place in the world. There were many hills in the area, and the streams and brooks ran down those hills in picturesque fashion to the sea. Aside from the beauty here, though, Bubbles just felt...at home in the forest. After all, she was a child of nature; she conversed with the animals, she appreciated the plants. Everything here was precious to her, and so she was precious to everything here.

At that particular moment in time, she had been sitting on a tree branch talking to one of her favorite chipmunks about the goings on in the forest. There had been some minor disturbances, but nothing Bullet (the superpowered squirrel who protected the woods) couldn't handle. All in all, it had been quite peaceful around the forest lately.

Enter Boomer, stage right.

He had been following Bubbles ever since she headed off towards the forest, and she hadn't known. He decided to make his move now, while she was off her guard: he tackled her straight off the branch and slammed her onto the forest floor. Before she had even realized what had hit her, he shot off a series of rapid fire jabs to her stomach before grabbing her arm and swinging her up off the ground and into a nearby tree. Bubbles hardly had time to open her eyes and register that there was a fist coming straight at her face before it connected, snapping her head back against the tree. Somehow, she managed to recover in time to spin to her right and dodge the next punch, but it did little to help her situation, as Boomer had immediately sent up a leg to meet her and send her flying into a bush.

Did he get her? Was she down and out? He waited a bit to see what would happen...and got his answer a split-second later when eyebeams shot out from the bush and zapped him. Boomer crossed his arms in front of his face to block the beams, but this made him unable to counter the flying punch Bubbles had sent to his chest. He flew through one tree and was slammed against a thicker one. Bubbles, now furious from the sudden random attack, delivered an onslaught of punches to Boomer's gut, and followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent him flying into a small clearing.

Boomer got up, groggy. This wasn't exactly going according to plan. He recovered just in time to see Bubbles flying towards him, ready to send him on his way. He side-stepped her attack, and as she flew past he kicked her in the side. Bubbles was thrown off balance in her flight, and that (coupled with the pain) sent her skidding in the dirt. She got up just in time for Boomer to deliver a right-left combo to her face. There would have been a third punch in that combo, but Bubbles caught Boomer's fist and swung him into a tree at the edge of the clearing. She then kneed him in his stomach and sent her own right-left into his face, followed by an uppercut that sent him straight into the middle of the gap in the trees.

Boomer wasn't moving. Bubbles, adrenaline pumping and teeth bared, began to walk up to him. Then she suddenly stopped. 'Is he playing dead?' She fired her eyebeams towards him to find out. It worked: Boomer flew up off the ground high into the air before they reached him. He then came back down towards her. Bubbles stood in a defensive stance, ready for everything, but Boomer didn't go for her directly. Instead, he flew around and around her. Fast. He was trying to get her confused, or dizzy, or something...this fight wasn't quite going his way, and he was trying to get an edge. Unfortunately, Bubbles countered well: as he was flying circles around her, she reached out randomly into the blur and grabbed onto what ended up being his neck. Using Boomer's own momentum against him, she swung him around in a complete circle before throwing him hard at a tree. Boomer countered this himself, however: he regained his balance and ricocheted off of the tree with his legs, sending him straight back at Bubbles full force.

Bubbles, though, was tired of this. She was ready to end it once and for all. Just as he was about to reach her, she crouched down and put all the power she could muster into one bone-shattering uppercut. Boomer was sent soaring high into the sky...right into a waiting Bubbles, who had flown up to meet him. She delivered a devistating kick to his mid-section to send him screaming back down to the dirt.

The sound of the impact could be heard throughout the entire forest.

When the dust had finally cleared, Boomer could be seen lying in a big crater in the center of the clearing. Bubbles flew back down to the ground, breathing heavily and clutching her arm. She heard Boomer groaning, so she knew he wasn't playing dead. It didn't give him much sympathy with her, though. Bubbles actually had to close her eyes and start breathing deeply so that she could calm down, she was so angry; why the sudden attack? And why her? What had she done to him? Why do it when she's alone? The last question puzzled her the most. It didn't seem like Rowdyruff style to attack them individually...and if he had attacked her, who's to say that the other two hadn't attacked her sisters, either?! Bubbles immediately wanted to fly off...but then decided against it. She had one here she could question. And he would answer her, whether he wanted to or not.

Boomer finally sat up coughing. The wind was knocked out of him from that kick, so he still couldn't hardly move. He was feeling pretty low; he had just been beaten by a girl! He layed back down to recover a bit. So much for his "course of action"...but he didn't have too much time to feel sorry for himself. As soon as he showed signs of life, Bubbles started drilling him.

"You wanna tell me why you just attacked me for no reason!?"

(cough-cough) "No!"

"What are you guys up to this time?"

"That's for me to find out (cough) and for you to know!"

It hadn't escaped Bubbles that he had totally messed that line up. Obviously, this guy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. She had already known this, of course...but it didn't get her any closer to finding out some answers. She decided to try a different tactic: she shot her eyebeams right in between his feet and started to slowly move them upwards towards his body.

"Oh, I'll find out, one way or another. Are you gonna tell me?"

Boomer could feel his legs getting warmer...but he still could only barely move. "No..."

"Okaaaay..." And the beams got closer...

And closer...

Until finally, they...

"WAIT! Okay! I'll tell you whatever!"

...ceased. Bubbles smirked. Nevermind that she didn't know exactly _why_ he gave in so quickly (or how much pain it would've caused him had he not), she had him where she wanted him now.

"Good boy. Now, why did you and your brothers attack us?" Obviously, she assumed that her sisters were attacked as well. Boomer set her straight.

"My brothers? What are you, dumb? Only I attacked you!"

"Wait...you mean you guys didn't plan on attacking us separately?"

"No! That's so stupid, why the heck would we do that?"

Bubbles was getting impatient. "Well, then, why did you attack me?"

"I have my reasons!"

She waited a while. He remained silent. "_WELL_?"

"Well, what?"

"What were your reasons!?"

"None of your business, that's why!"

Bubbles voice was dangerously calm. "Look...just tell me why you attacked me and nobody gets hurt."

Boomer gave a fake laugh. "HA! You couldn't hurt me if..." --his legs all of a sudden became a lot warmer-- "Okay! Okay!" Bubbles smirked once again...she seemed to be quite the interrogater today. "I attacked you because...because I...I wanted to prove to my brothers that I was a true Rowdyruff Boy."

If she was expecting to hear any answer, it certainly wasn't that one. It threw her for a loop. She decided to try and probe him a bit more.

"Why wouldn't they think you were a Rowdyruff?"

Boomer sat up and told her about what had happened on the beach. When he was done, she didn't know what to think of it. Most people would've laughed at him, but she felt different about it. He was trying to prove himself to his brothers. It sounded so familiar, and Bubbles knew exactly why. She had to go through the very same ordeal with her own sisters. It was a dark little moment in her past...one that she doesn't openly talk about too much. But it made her feel sympathetic towards him.

"Believe it or not, I went through something similar to what your going through with my own sisters."

Boomer perked up. "Really? What happened?"

"...Ahh, I'd rather not talk about it. But I can help you out with your problem."

"Eww, no! Why would I want your help!"

"Because," Bubbles grinned darkly, "if you don't let me help you, I'll make sure your brothers find out what happened here. _Everything_ that happened!"

Boomer paled. That was the very last thing he wanted. "NO! Okay...you can help me. But THIS DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING!"

Bubbles shrugged. "Fair enough. Now come on." And she headed off deeper into the forest. Boomer reluctantly got up from his crater, stretched his back a bit, and followed her, looking around to see if anyone was watching. 'Oh, man...getting help from a girl! This is the lamest of lame! At least my brothers don't know.'

Had he looked up, however, Boomer would've found that he was quite mistaken...

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_And that's all. Boomer fans are probably ticked off at me now...don't worry, I'll make it up to you later in the story, I promise! Oh, and did anyone catch the "Bobby's World" line I threw in? No? Oh, well...anyways, please review if you want, I'd really appreciate it!  
_


	3. The Blues

_Hello! I'm soo sorry, this should've been up at the end of February! But anyways, here it is, the next chapter...this one's a bit more mellow, less action. But it's necessary to set up for the next chapter (which should be the last). Oh, and, uh, in case anyone was wondering, this story takes place within the storyline of the show; as in, everything is as it was in the latest point of the show. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I don't own anything, so sewing me would be pointless._

_Oh yeah, and I know it's late, but to the reviewers of this story, thank you so very much! You guys are seriously the reason why I even keep writing this! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!  
_

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Let's rewind a bit, shall we?

_**At the beach…**_

Brick and Butch were laughing for a good five minutes after Boomer took off. He was going to show them what? Why he was a Rowdyruff? Geez…he took stuff too seriously sometimes. They were only joking, after all.

"Geez! Boomer takes stuff too seriously sometimes." Brick exclaimed. "Did he miss the part where we were joking?"

Butch agreed. "Yeah! Now he'll probably do something even stupider and we'll probably have to go save him!"

"Yeah! Come on, we'd better go find him before he hurts himself."

And they flew off. Being a few minutes behind, they only knew in which general direction he went; they didn't actually know where he was. Luckily for them, some birds flying out from the top of the trees in the forest gave them a clue.

"Over there...bet that's where he is." Brick took off in that direction, and Butch followed. They flew in high over the trees, and were about to head to the ground when they heard a resounding crash coming from nearby.

Butch turned to Brick, "You think that was Boomer showing us why he's a Rowdyruff Boy?"

Brick barely stifled a laugh. "Yeah, right. Let's go see."

They flew through the tree tops to the edge of a clearing, and stared down. There was a giant crater in the middle, and laying in the crater groaning was Boomer. One of the Powerpuff Girls, the blonde-haired one (who they recognized as the one who impersonated Boomer that one time), had just landed on the side of the crater, and she looked hurt…but not as hurt as Boomer looked. It was obvious what had happened: they had been fighting, and Boomer lost. His brothers didn't know whether to laugh or pound that girl, so they opted to just stay in the tree top and listen in while she interrogated their brother. There were times when they wanted to fly down there and help him (like when she fired her lasers in between his legs), but they somehow refrained from doing so.

Finally, they watched as Boomer followed the blue Puff deeper into the woods. Seeing that the coast was clear, they floated down to the ground next to the crater and stared disbelieving in the direction Boomer and the Puff headed off. Butch was the first to speak.

"What the heck is he doing!? He's actually getting help from that girl? I can't believe I call him my brother!"

Brick didn't want to believe it either…but he wasn't quite thinking about that. Something that blonde girl said had stuck in his head.

"Hey, Butch…what did that girl say? She thought that each of us had attacked each of them separately, right?"

"Yeah, but that's stupid! That's not what we do, that's what Boomer does!"

"You're right…that's not what we do. So it's exactly what we _should_ do!"

Butch turned quickly to him. "What!?"

"You heard me. It's not something they think we'd do…so we should do it! Catch them off guard! While Boomer's dancing with that sissy, we can take care of her sisters for her! It's perfect!" Brick had an evil smile on his face by now, and Butch's face mirrored it.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let Boomer play in the woods with his new girlfriend! We'll show 'im how to be a real Rowdyruff!" And with that, they flew off in search of the other Puffs.

* * *

_**  
Meanwhile…**_

Deep in the forest, Boomer followed Bubbles at somewhat of a distance. He was still sore from the fight, but more than that, he was also a bit scared (although he wouldn't admit it to himself). The forests of Townsville held some pretty wild beasts, including snakes, wolves, and even bears, and although he had superpowers, his child fears played out (_funny how they seem to do that_), and he found himself alert and looking around at the slightest noise. He actually jumped when he heard what sounded like large birds taking off from some trees far behind him. Bubbles, who was used to the forest and all its sounds, just looked back and taunted him as she suppressed a chuckle.

"What's the matter? Are ya scared?" (There was a bit of irony in _her_ asking that question.)

"NO!" Boomer quickly replied…but his face somewhat gave him away.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you, everybody in the forest knows me. You don't have to be scared."

"I'm not scared!" Boomer decided that a change of subject was in order. "So how exactly are you going to help me?"

Bubbles stopped. She hadn't really thought this part through; she had just wanted to help him. But how?...that was a good question.

"Hmmm…well, I hadn't really thought about how yet…"

"How did you prove yourself to your sisters?" Boomer asked. He had been wondering ever since she had mentioned it, and maybe he could do the same thing. Bubbles, however, was reluctant (it was a great episode, but it wasn't exactly her proudest moment, after all).

"Uhhh…I…well…"

"Come on! If you tell me, maybe I could do the same thing."

"Or not…"

"Why? What happened already?!"

Bubbles gave in. "All right! (Sigh) My sisters were teasing me about being a baby, so I thought I'd prove to them that I wasn't. So I went and fought a whole bunch of monsters in our training room -" Boomer cut in. "You guys have a training room?!" "Yes! Now let me finish. The next day, I went on...a power trip or something…I wasn't myself. I was beating up people for no reason, and hurting animals and everything. I even split up from my sisters. Before long, Mojo captured me and used me as bait to try and capture my then. All because I was stupid and flew off by myself!"

Boomer was listening intently, but he didn't exactly share the same feelings as Bubbles.

"That doesn't sound so bad. I beat up people for no reason every day."

Bubbles glared at him. "That's because you're bad! But I'm a Powerpuff Girl, I shouldn't do things like that."

He didn't really see it that way, but he decided to drop it. "Well, how did you escape Mojo? And how does all that prove to your sisters that you were a Siss…a Powerpuff girl?"

Bubbles smiled…this part wasn't so bad. "Well, Mojo had me locked in one of those circle…prison thingies of his, and he shot his laser at me. It didn't hurt at first, but he turned it up to eleven and then it really did hurt. He wanted me to cry, but I just got mad and broke out of the thing, and beat the snot out of him!" Boomer laughed loudly. Bubbles, enjoying this, continued. "Then he tried to zap us again, and I beat him up again! I guess I showed my sisters that even though we're a team, I could hold my own without them sometimes…you know, I didn't need them looking after me all the time. Is that what you're trying to prove to your brothers?"

Boomer shook his head. "No. I'm trying to prove to them that I'm not a wuss…and that I'm not as stupid as they think. It takes a lot to be a Rowdyruff Boy, you wouldn't understand."

Bubbles smirked. "Of course I wouldn't…I just stole your clothes and fooled your brothers into thinking I was you for a full day."

"…Oh, yeah." Boomer had forgotten about that little episode, but she was right, and it actually gave him a bit of hope. Maybe this girl _could_ help him prove himself to his brothers…after all, who better to do so than someone who had already proven themselves to be a Rowdyruff Boy? But he figured he should at least make nice first…that wasn't going to be easy.

"Ahh…Bubbles, right? Yeah…about attacking you…I'm…ahh…"

She didn't need to hear it. "Don't worry about it."

Boomer, relieved, immediately went on to something different. "So you must be the fighter of the group?"

Bubbles was surprised at that statement. Of course she wasn't really "the fighter" of the group. In fact, she'd probably be the last candidate for such a title. She laughed at him.

"Hahahaha! I wouldn't say that. If anyone's "the fighter," it's Buttercup."

Boomer's pride was hurt a bit. "Then how come you were able to beat me so easily?"

Something in the back of Bubble's mind was telling her that it was a bad idea to tell a villain how they were defeated, but she ignored it. "Well, it wasn't really easy...but I beat you because you're so predictable."

Not a guy in the world wants to hear those words come out of a female's mouth. Boomer was no exception.

"_Predictable_! I'm not predictable!"

"Yes, you are! How do you think I was able to counter all of your attacks? Playing dead, bouncing off the tree…it's all been done. I knew exactly what you were going to do."

Boomer suddenly threw a punch at her. Bubbles blocked it with a gigantic "I-told-you-so" look on her face.

"Oh. Well, I guess I need to work on that. But do you have any ideas on what I can do to" –

Bubbles raised her hand and cut him off, standing alert all of a sudden. She thought she had heard a roar coming from far away…and she had. Another monster was attacking Townsville, and this one sounded like it was already in the middle of the city!

"I gotta go!" And she flew off. Boomer wondered where she was going, and was thinking about whether to fly after her or not. Then he thought about his brothers, and their laughing faces, and he was suddenly set on showing them what he was made of. He decided to follow Bubbles, thinking he'd meet up with his brothers later. What he didn't know was that later would come a lot sooner than he thought….

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_That's all for this chapter. Sorry about all the talking, but like I said, it's necessary. Next chapter will have a lot of action, I promise! And in case you're wondering, "Bubblevicious" is my favorite episode. Anyways, please review if you want! It would make me happy, and that's all anyone wants to see, right???  
_


	4. Blue Shift

_I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know that I'm oh-so-terribly late in getting this story updated, but I got hit with a bad case of Real Life Syndrome and this just wasn't top priority. I'm actually surprised that I got this up when I did. But yes...here it is finally! Ahh...this chapter's actually a bit longer than most any I've ever written. Too much stuff happens in this one at once! Well...you'll find out what I mean._

_Before that, though, I just want to take time to give a gigantic **THANK YOU** to those who have reviewed this story! I absolutely appreciate it more than you even know! Thank you so much!!! Now on with this chapter...  
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_So what have you got to say for yourself, then?_

_Yeah...now that you're a hero..._

_Now that you're a hero..._

_...a hero..._

Those lines kept replaying in Boomer's mind, and it was this that kept him hovering above the forest for 30 seconds while Bubbles flew off ahead of him. His resolve to follow her had broken down as soon as he'd realized that doing so might make him a hero again, which is what got him into this whole mess in the first place. If he didn't follow her, though, he might not get the chance to prove himself to his brothers.

Oh, what's a Ruff to do?

_Well, while he tries to answer that, let's find out what some other Ruffs are doing..._

**

* * *

A while ago...**

Brick and Butch were flying away from the forest. Butch still didn't quite know what his brother had up his sleeve, but whatever it was, it was sure to be something cool. He was curious, though.

"So Brick, what exactly are we about to do?"

"Duh! We're going to attack those girls separately!" Brick responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Butch had already known this, of course, but he kept his mouth shut as Brick continued. "We'll find a way to split them up, and I'll take the red one down while you take the green one." Butch moaned.

"Why do I have to take the green one all the time?"

"I don't know, it's just the way things have to be. Now quit whining and help me think of a way to get 'em away from each other!"

Who knows how long it would've taken them to come up with something if the answer hadn't started attacking Downtown Townsville at that moment. "Whoa! Check out that beast!" Butch exclaimed. Check out that beast, indeed. It was like something from a sci-fi story written by someone with an overly-active imagination (and possibly an affinity for the Animorphs book series). The monster looked like a large, white stubby tube with mucos coating its skin. The thing that stood out about it, however, was that on either end of the monster was mouth...as in, the tube started and ended with gigantic, circular mouths. And lining those mouths were rings of small-ish yet razor-sharp teeth. Its two sets of tiny eyes were also perched right around the outside of the holes, so that it could see in two different directions at once (depending on how it turned its body), making it twice as dangerous as it already was. _Yeah, that seems like a good monster for this._

Brick was excited. "Butch, that's it! We'll use this monster as a diversion. You can go destroy stuff in a different part of town, and I'll wait here until they split up, then I'll take out whichever one decides to stay!"

"All right! Maybe I won't get that green one, after all!" shouted Butch, obviously oblivious to the laws of fan-fiction.

"Yeah, let's do this, then! Go fly off-" That's as far as Brick got before the monster let out an ear-splitting roar (apparently, having two mouths means that you can roar twice as loud). Brick shooed off his brother. "Go, go! And remember to blow something up so they know that you're making damage!" Butch nodded, and with a gigantic smile on his face, he took off...towards, of all places, Pokey Oaks.

**

* * *

Meanwhile...**

Blossom heard the insistent buzzing of the Hotline all the way from the kitchen. She would've asked Buttercup to answer it, but she was in the bathroom, so Blossom was forced to reluctantly end her snack search in favor of answering the Mayor's call.

"What is it, Mayor?" she asked in a somewhat tired voice. The Mayor didn't seem to notice at all.

"Oh, hi Blossom!" he said jovially. "I woke up from my afternoon nap this afternoon, and walked out to my balcony to look out over the city. Well, imagine my surprise when I realized that I had forgotten to put my clothes on! It was rather drafty this afternoon and my legs were freezing..."

Blossom was about to ask him if this had anything to do with an emergency, when all of a sudden she heard a roar coming from the middle of town. The Mayor, however, continued on. "There was also a monster attacking the town. Oh, and that reminds me. _Blossom, there's a monster attacking the town!_ Please save us!"

Blossom rolled her eyes. "We're on it, Mayor," and she hung up. Buttercup had hurried out of the bathroom after hearing the roar herself.

"All right! And I thought today would be just another boring Saturday!" Blossom couldn't hide the small smile she got from her sister's enthusiasm. She set herself quickly, however. "Come on, let's go! Hopefully Bubbles will know to meet us there if she sees it," she said as she and Buttercup flew out through their bedroom window. They didn't get very far, however, before they noticed something flying towards them.

"What is that?" Blossom got her answer rather quickly when the UFO in question fired its eyebeams right at them. The two sisters split as the beams went past, but that left both of them open for attack, an opportunity that Butch didn't as he went for Buttercup. He tackled her to the ground.

"Yeah! Take that!" he exclaimed, happy that he wouldn't even have to cause a diversion to get some action. His joy was short-lived, as he was knocked away with an explosive kick from Blossom.

"Take that, yourself!" Blossom helped Buttercup to her feet and was about to charge for attack again when Buttercup held up her hand.

"Wait…you go on and get rid of that monster. I'll take care of him myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Now hurry up before it destroys the city!"

Blossom knew she had to go, so she didn't argue. "All right…just be careful."

"I will, don't worry. This guy's a pushover!"

Blossom took one last glance at her green-eyed sister and her foe before finally flying off towards the city. Butch watched her go with satisfaction.

'Yes!' he thought, 'Brick's plan is going to work! Now all I gotta do is…'

"Hey, you! What are you staring at? Your fight's here with me!" Buttercup shouted, interrupting his train of thought. Butch focused his attention on her. One part of his brother's plan was complete…now it was time for his part.

**

* * *

And now for something completely different….**

Bubbles flew towards the middle of the city. She could see the monster that had made that loud roar from the forest. As she was flying, however, something else caught her eye: a fast-moving green streak flying _away_ from the monster. She knew that could only be one person: Butch. Bubbles might've ignored him if it weren't for one small detail: he was heading straight for Pokey Oaks. With that in mind, the monster became second priority. She changed direction and took off towards Butch and the suburbs.

Blossom had already flown off and Buttercup and Butch were already into their battle by the time Bubbles flew up. As soon as she saw what was going on, she realized the danger that everyone was in. She blasted Butch with her eyebeams as he was diving down towards Buttercup, who was in the dirt. Butch was caught off guard and went crashing down to the ground, giving Bubbles time to help her sister up.

"Hey, Bubbles! Where were you?" Bubbles shook her head frantically.

"It doesn't matter, come on! We have to go!"

"Wait, I have to take care of this goon. You go help Blossom with the monster."

Bubbles shook her head once again. "The monster isn't the problem-" Before she could finish, both of them were caught off guard by a hard punch from Butch that knocked Bubbles into Buttercup and sent both of them flying.

"Hey, two for one! All right!" Butch exclaimed excitedly.

The two sisters recovered quickly and got into a fighting stance. Bubbles whispered to Buttercup, "We have to take this guy down quick and go help Blossom! I think she may be in more trouble than she knows!"

Buttercup was still confused. "What? Is the monster that big?" Butch answered her question.

"Doesn't matter! Your sister'll never get to that thing!"

Buttercup finally understood it all. "You mean…oh, crap!" Her face hardened. "You guys are gonna pay!" And she immediately flew at Butch, Bubbles right behind her.

So it was one over-confident guy versus two angry sisters…the fight was about over as soon as Buttercup said it was. Every time he managed to get a good hit off of one sister (which was only once or twice), the other would come at him and keep him occupied long enough for the other one to join in. The girls worked in perfect tandem with each other. When Bubbles was knocked back towards the street from a wicked punch by Butch, Buttercup flew up to him and gave him a nice right-left combo before round-housing him back towards Bubbles, who screamed at him and socked him in the gut while he was dazed. All in all, the fight was rather intense, but very short, and both Bubbles and Buttercup were flying back towards town not too long afterwards, leaving a very hurt Butch lying in someone's yard.

**

* * *

Back to Boomer…**

Unbelievably, Boomer's indecision kept him in the vicinity of the forest for a while. He had finally decided to just go towards the monster to wait for Bubbles. That way, she could still help him, and he wouldn't be a hero. And maybe he could learn a thing or two from her.

After finally deciding on a course of action, Boomer flew off towards town…just in time to watch his brother, far ahead near the monster, ambush a slightly worn-out Blossom (who was busy trying to fight the beast whilst avoiding its two mouths). Brick had been sitting on a skyscraper waiting for whichever Powerpuff Butch let go, knowing that they wouldn't even notice him because they would be too focused on the thing eating Townsville. He had waited a few minutes after Blossom started fighting the monster before making his presence known by tackling her away. He then let loose a barrage of punches to her face.

Boomer was a spectator to the entire thing, and wondered shortly where his green-clad brother was before realizing what might be going on. He gasped in horror…how did all of this happen? Were they their in the forest with him? Had they heard him? Or was it just coincidence that he found one of his brothers attacking one of Bubbles's sisters after he so vehemently denied to her that that was going to happen? He wasn't sure…in fact, he wasn't sure that anything was going on. That is, until he saw both Bubbles and Buttercup flying towards Brick at superspeed. They both intercepted him as he was flying in for another assault on Blossom and sent him flying into a glass-sided building. Then, after helping Blossom gather her bearings, all three of the girls went after him.

Boomer couldn't just stand by and let his brother get pummeled, so he flew off towards the fight. Brick was thrown out of the building and plummeted towards the street below, where he crashed with a loud BOOM! The Powerpuff Girls then flew in for one final blow, but Boomer got there first. He scooped his disabled brother out of the crater just in time, and flew to the top of one of the tallest towers. He laid him down as the girls flew up to meet him. He didn't know what he was going to do...it was hard enough taking care of one of them. This time it was three-on-one. Lucky for him, however, the odds evened out quite quickly.

"You guys go on and get rid of that monster. I'll take care of him myself."

Blossom and Buttercup stared at their blue-eyed sister in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" they asked, worried.

"Yes!" exclaimed an impatient Bubbles. "Now hurry up before it destroys the city!"

Buttercup chuckled before turning to Blossom. "Come on, you heard her. We still have a monster to take care of."

Blossom was still rather surprised at her sister's insistence, but she didn't argue the decision. "All right…just be careful. We'll be back as soon as possible" And with that, she and Buttercup flew off to take care of the monster (finally), leaving Bubbles to deal with Boomer.

Boomer didn't like the look on her face. But then again, he didn't much care. All three of those girls had just attacked his lone brother, and he wasn't too happy about that. In fact, he didn't really know why Bubbles was mad at him. He got his answer, though.

"I knew I shouldn't've believed you! You lied to me, you used me, and you wasted my time while your brothers tried to take out my sisters! That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Bubbles shouted at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I told you that we didn't do that kind of thing!" Boomer shouted back.

"Yeah, you told me, and I believed you! I can't believe I let myself get tricked by…by you!" Apparently, Bubbles was angry about being used to carry out a villain's plan _again_. She was angry at herself for being so gullible and falling for the 'trap', and she wanted to make Boomer pay for it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Boomer shouted indignantly.

"It means that you're gonna pay for what you and your brothers tried to do to us!"

"We didn't do anything to you girls! And it's you who's gonna pay for what you did to my brother!"

After that last exchange, there was no need for more words. The two blue-clad children flew at full speed towards one another, each fully intent on making the other one hurt as much as possible.  
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_Ahh! What will happen next? How will this rematch pan out? Will Blossom and Buttercup be back in time to help Bubbles? Will Butch and Brick recover enough to help Boomer? And what happens if those things were to happen at the same time!? All these questions will be answered in the next chapter! The only thing I'll tell you is that the fight will definately be longer than the first one._

_Please **review** this chapter if you wish! Let me know what you think about the story and/or about my writing style. Thanks for reading!_


	5. The Ending

_I say most of what I want to say at the bottom. Just a few things here: this is the longest chapter I have ever written for anything. I hope it's not too confusing, it cuts back and forth quite a bit. And I don't own anything but this story. So there.__**  
**_

* * *

_**BOOM!!!**_

Bubbles and Boomer reached each other at the same time, and each unloaded a massive punch to the other's face. That first blow stunned them: they backed away and stared each other down a bit, waiting for the other to make the next move.

This gives me a bit of time to reset the scene for you. Bubbles and Boomer are on top of one of the tallest towers in downtown Townsville, duking it out with each other; Brick is up there with them, lying on the roof of the tower unconscious; Blossom and Buttercup are battling a two-mouthed monster on a different tower in a different part of downtown; and Butch, of course, is back in Pokey Oaks, lying in someone's yard (also unconscious). Yes, I do believe that's all the important people…now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Boomer was the first to resume the attack: he flew towards his adversary foot-first, as though he were going to throw down a monster kick to Bubbles's stomach. Bubbles, however, jumped up as Boomer slid under her. He countered her dodge well; as she turned around to see what he would do next, she was met with his eyebeams straight in her chest. The force of the beams knocked her back a bit, and gave Boomer time to recover.

Bubbles went on the offensive this time. She flew at him, looking to tackle him. It worked: Boomer was on the ground before he knew it, with Bubbles on top of him throwing punches to his face. It was all he could do to block them until he managed to kick her off. He shook his head a bit, and looked up at Bubbles. She was floating there, looking at him as though he were an insect that needed to be squashed, or a rat that needed to be exterminated. It only ticked Boomer off further. He took off straight at her. Bubbles saw exactly what he was planning on doing, and once again planned on dodging…but she found that she wasn't given that option. Boomer hadn't flown right at her as she thought he was going to. He had shot directly past her, and grabbed her as he passed. He flew straight up in the air, then turned right around and, using his momentum as a sling-shot, threw Bubbles as hard as he could back towards the tower. She rocketed straight towards the roof…and she was going too fast to stop herself….

* * *

_**BOOM!!!**_

Blossom saw the dust come from the tower where she and Buttercup left their sister, and she thought she could make out somebody floating above it, but she could only glance in that direction for a short moment before the behemoth in front of her reminded Blossom of where her focus ought to be. She was wondering how to attack this monster. It only took Buttercup one attempt (which resulted in a slightly torn skirt) to figure out that flying blindly into this fight would be disastrous. They had already deduced that the beast kept all of its vital organs in the middle of its body (protected on either side by its mouths), and that that part of it (being sans a ring of teeth) was also its weakest point. Problem was, assuming that one could even manage to get to that part of the monster's body, the skin there was very resilient. The mucus coating was thick enough to absorb most of any type of punch or kick, and the dermis was thick enough to resist whatever amount of the impact was left.

So Blossom was left pondering ways to attack this thing. And I was left pondering why I made this thing so hard to beat when it's not even supposed to be the focus here. Hmmm…wait! What if they tried….

"Buttercup! Try and go for the eyes. Maybe if we blind it…." Blossom started, but then she faltered. How exactly would blinding it help?

"If we blind it, then what? It'll just get angry and start attacking anything it touches!" Buttercup answered for her. "Maybe we should try and attack it from the inside."

Blossom thought about it for a second. "We could, but how would we get in there without being turned into cud?" Then she got it. "We should take out its eyes! Then it won't see us coming, and it won't chew us up like gum! HA, I knew blinding it would be a good idea!"

Buttercup hated that smug look on her face, but she couldn't find anything wrong with Blossom's plan, so she shrugged her shoulders and took off towards the monster with Blossom at her heels.

* * *

**Back to the Big Blue Battle…**

Bubbles was cursing herself. She had known, _she had known_ that telling her enemy how he could fight better would come back and bite her on the butt one day…she just didn't know that it would be later on _this_ day. No matter now; she had gotten herself into this mess, so she would have to get herself out alive. She was feeling rather confident before, having defeated him earlier. Of course, that had been before he threw her through a roof and into a stairwell. Now, she knew that this wouldn't be like last time. Oh, no: this one would be far more difficult. This one would definitely be a fight to remember.

Funny...thinking of it that way made her more excited to be fighting. Usually Bubbles wasn't one for violence; on the contrary, she was the most pacific of the three girls. But this battle just felt like it would be extraordinary, and she desperately wanted to be the one standing victorious at the end.

That wouldn't happen, though, if she stayed in that stairwell. She gathered her strength and blasted out of there, with more fervor than ever. Boomer, who had been standing near the hole in the roof, was knocked off his feet by the blast, and Bubbles took advantage by shooting him with her eyebeams. He was actually knocked backwards _back_ _onto_ his feet, and slid to a stop just before running into the still-unconscious Brick. Boomer glanced at his brother to make sure he was still safe, then looked forward just in time to see Bubbles coming at him with her fist cocked. He only had time to block it, and because he had to stand his ground to avoid harm befalling his brother, it had hurt a lot worse. Bubbles then started barraging him with jabs from the left and right. Boomer had to stand there and block them all, but he was watching for any openings, any opportunities to arise.

Left! Right!, she berated him. Left! Upper! Left again! THERE! He let loose a quick knee to Bubbles's stomach. She wasn't expecting the attack at all, and doubled over in pain. Boomer capitalized on the opportunity to attack, as well as to taunt.

"How does it feel, huh?," he cried as he let loose an uppercut that sent Bubbles flying up and over the edge of the building. Boomer, hoping to take the fight away from his brother, quickly flew over the edge of the building after her…and was instantly puzzled when he couldn't see her falling towards the street below. He flew further down, looking around for her, when all of a sudden he was paralyzed by a skull-splitting scream. Bubbles was right next to him, screaming right in his ear. It was the most horrible sound…Boomer was still reeling for a second or two after she stopped, which gave her plenty of time to pay him back.

"This'll hurt you more than it'll hurt me," she said with sinister grin as she clasped her hands together to make a single fist, and then struck him as hard as she could on his back. Boomer was sent crashing back to earth at sonic speeds. _'Oh, this might hurt in the morning….'_

* * *

_**CRASH!!!**_

Buttercup glanced back in the direction of the loud noise, but couldn't see much before the monster roared…"monster", in this case, meaning Blossom.

"BUTTERCUP! _FOCUS ON THE MONSTER!!!_ We can help Bubbles later, but we have to get rid of this thing first!" Blossom screamed at her sister while trying to hit the monster in its eyes. It was flailing in pain because they had already taken out its first pair, which made hitting the other pair just that much harder.

Buttercup turned her attention back to the beast, and noticed how Blossom kept missing. 'She's too far away, and it keeps moving,' she thought to herself. 'We need to get in closer to get a better shot…but how can we do that without getting eaten?' Then she got it: there were two of them, but only one pair of eyes. Without any hesitation, she cried to Blossom "Keep it busy!" and flew behind it to its other end. She wasn't going to enter the mouth just yet (as it was still snapping wildly even without the eyes); oh no, she was going to try and completely blind the thing first. She flew in from the back, right over the monster to its front end, and before the monster even knew she was there, she shot her eyebeams at its remaining pair of eyes. They splattered, as the other ones did, like a bubble of lava. Blood started streaming out from the monster's empty sockets, and it started thrashing around worse than ever on top of the building.

"Buttercup, you did it!" Blossom shouted in glee. "Now maybe we can finally get this thing out of our town once and for all."

* * *

**Back in Pokey Oaks…**

Butch was coming to. It took him a little while to get his bearings right, and once he did, he stood up and stretched out a bit. "Ouch…man, what's up with my back?" Then he remembered how he got there. "Aurgh!! That's it!! I'm takin' care of those girls once and for all!!!" And with that, he flew towards the ruckus in downtown.

* * *

**Back to the Main Event…**

Incredibly, unbelievably, Boomer was all right…in pain, sure, but ultimately all right. How, you ask? Easy: before he hit the asphalt, he regained his bearings and shot lasers at the street as hard as he could. They didn't make it all the way through before he impacted, but they did their job all right: it was only a thin layer of concrete and dirt that he crashed through before reaching a subway tunnel. In fact, the crash didn't quite hurt as much as where Bubbles had slammed into his back, and he could keep fighting through the pain. He _would_ keep fighting…and he would make sure that she didn't get a cheap shot like that on him again.

He shook his head, steeled himself, and flew out of the subway tunnel back into the street, looking for his adversary. There she was, on the blacktop, looking shocked that he was still moving. Boomer flashed his most defiant smile. "Oh, I'm sorry…were you trying to hurt me?" he provoked her. It worked; her shock turned to fury and she flew at him head on. Her fist was within a foot of his face before he grabbed it and swung her around, letting go and sending her flying into the wall of a building.

Before Bubbles could even move from the side of the tower, Boomer was upon her, and he came with a vengeance. He was relentlessly attacking her more ruthlessly than ever before; it was like a one-man Ballistic Barrage. Every punch was followed a split second later by another punch, and every hit caused excruciating pain. He pounded her for a good thirty seconds before he let her rest.

Bubbles was hurt, no denying it. Very hurt. She couldn't handle another one of those attacks; this had to end very, very soon. She shook her head, stood up, and stared down her opponent. She focused her energy, narrowed her eyes…and with a war cry, she charged at Boomer as fast as she could.

* * *

**Up on the Rooftop…**

Brick sat up, shaking the cobwebs out of his head. He looked around to see where he was…he was on top of a building. How did he get up…oh, yeah! It was those…oooh, he would get them! Before he could move, however, he saw something green flying towards him. His brother landed next to him with a scowl.

"You too, huh? So much for your plan!" Butch spat at him.

"Oh yeah? Well I don't hear you comin' up with any-" Brick started…but the sudden rumbling of the building made him stop. He looked around…none of the other buildings seemed to be shaking. What was going on, then? The vibrations went on for a good thirty seconds before finally subsiding. Brick looked at his brother.

"What was that all about?" Butch looked as puzzled as he did. "Not sure…that was weird though…hey, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the hole in the roof that Bubbles had made earlier. Brick looked at it and shrugged. He floated towards it, while Butch flew towards the edge that it was closest to try and figure out what caused the shaking. He looked around, then looked down...then he called his brother over.

"Hey, look down here! Looks like I've found our runaway brother!" Brick flew over and looked down into the broken street. Boomer was standing in the middle of it, looking like he had just had the fight of his life. Right up against the building straight below them, in a big heap of concrete, was Bubbles. She looked as though she had been through a gauntlet of disaster, and had come out worse.

"Whoa…did our brother do that? Did Boomer make this whole building shake beating the crap out of that girl?" Butch wondered. Brick couldn't answer…he was in shock (and in spite of himself, he was also slightly in awe). He didn't think his brother was capable of a feat this huge…taking out a Powerpuff (well, from what it looks like, he did a bit more than that), destroying part of the city, and shaking a skyscraper to its very foundation at the same time. He was…proud! But wait!...the Powerpuff was getting up. She wasn't done yet. 'Geez, they just don't die!' Brick thought. He watched as she charged him. How would Boomer handle himself now? Both of them would wait and see…

* * *

**But First!**

"I can't get through!" cried an exasperated Buttercup as she tried in vain to penetrate the monster's belly. Nothing was working! Their punches couldn't get through the thick skin, their eyebeams just bounced off of its hide, and it was gnashing its razorblade teeth wildly, which made entering its mouth too dangerous.

Blossom was running out of ideas, as well. "Well…let's try and hit it together. Maybe we can get through that way." Buttercup nodded. "All right…on the count of three, we fly at it. Ready? One…two…THREE!" They both rocketed at it at high speed, hoping desperately that this would work…

_**POW!!!**_

They both hit it at the same time…but instead of cutting through the skin, they sent it rocketing through the air. _'Oh, well,'_ Buttercup thought as she and Blossom flew after it, _'maybe the impact will kill it…'_

* * *

Bubbles was flying towards Boomer at full speed, ready for any counter attacks he might pull, and fully prepared to take off his head. This would end now. 

She got closer…he made no sign of moving, or even of attacking.

She flew faster.

Suddenly, he shot out his eyebeams at her. It was an easy dodge, as he was still a little ways away, but she took his eyes off of him to look back as they hit the building behind her.

That was all he needed.

She looked back towards him, and almost immediately knew it was over. She gasped…in his hand was a bright blue, electric baseball bat. It was already cocked back and ready to be unleashed. It was too late to stop herself, or even slow down…this was going to hurt….

_**CRACK!!!**_

Boomer swung his energy bat as hard as he possibly could. The discharged energy blasted Bubbles through the air at hyper speeds. She rocketed straight up, and very high…and then met resistance in the form of a certain monster's closed mouth. She crashed through the monster's teeth, ripped through its organs and flew out the open mouth on the other end, intestines in tow. Both Bubbles and the monster lost their momentum from the impact, and both descended to Earth, side by side.

The sound of the impact could be heard throughout the entire city.

The monster lay dead; Bubbles lay nearly unconscious. Brick, Blossom, Buttercup and Butch all watched the dust settle, too shocked to move, too awed to speak. The rumbling had finally stopped, and they all watched as Boomer walked up to Bubbles, who was still moaning in her crater, ready to go blank. He walked up to her, looked down at her, and with an expressionless face and tone simply said, "Thanks for your help.…"

Then he took off and flew away. And Bubbles finally succumbed to the darkness and passed out.

Brick and Butch watched their brother take off and flew off after him. Blossom and Buttercup, on the other hand, flew down to the street. First they checked to see that the monster truly was dead (it was), then they went into Bubbles's crater.

"Bubbles," they cried together as they shook their fallen sister, "Bubbles, wake up!"

"Come on, wake up, Bubbles!"

"Yeah, you gotta get up!"

"You have to be okay!"

"You can to pull through this!"

"Please, Bubbles…"

"Come on, let's take her to the Professor!"

"No…"

They gasped as they look back down at their sister, who was starting to come to. She was coughing and hacking, and it looked like she was having the greatest difficulty sitting up. Still, she declared, "I'll be fine…"

The two sisters glanced at each other. Then they both reached to grab an arm, but she winced once they touched her, and they backed off. She was in pain, that was plain to see…but it seemed as though she was more hurt on the outside than the inside. Very strange for someone who had just lost such a grand battle.

Bubbles just sat there for a while, coughing every now and then. Finally after about ten minutes, she tried to stand up. Her sisters were at attention immediately. She was shaky, but she managed to finally stand on her own two feet.

"Bubbles, are you sure you're all right?" Blossom inquired, full of concern. Bubbles answered her softly.

"Well…it hurts. A lot…but…" –she glanced up towards the sky— "overall, I feel all right. I don't know why…but I think I'll be okay…it'll all be okay…." And with that, she (with her sisters right behind her) floated up and slowly set off for home.

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

Boomer took off towards the shack where the Rowdyruffs reside. It was getting to be sunset, but he still hadn't gone home, nor had he spoken to his brothers since he took off. He had seen them on the roof after he had whacked Bubbles with his bat, but he didn't know how much they had seen, nor did he really care. He found that he didn't need their approval anymore…he was their brother, and whether they liked it or not, that wasn't going to change. Besides, there was too much going through his mind at the time.

Boomer, like Bubbles, had found himself enjoying the fight more than he thought he would. He didn't know why, it wasn't like he didn't do this every day…but this one felt different. This one felt like…like it was more than just a clash between enemies. It felt as though…as though it were a test. Like a right of passage, almost…like it would prove, to himself more than anyone else, that he was good at what he did, and that he was a Rowdyruff Boy despite what his brothers said. So he gave it his all…and he found himself fighting better than he ever had before, doing things he never even dared to dream that he could do.

And the strangest part of all was that he had his opponent, Bubbles, to thank for all of that. It was Bubbles who showed him what he was doing wrong. It was her who, even knowing that they were enemies, took it upon her self to try and help him. And it was her who taught him that proving yourself to others was no where near as important or as satisfying as proving yourself to yourself.

Hmmm…but maybe there _was_ someone else he was trying to prove himself to. Would he have fought so hard if it were anybody else that he was up against?

He arrived at his home and opened the door. There were his brothers on the floor, chatting with themselves. When he walked in, they looked at him with smiles on their face.

"Well, well, the man of the hour! Where ya been, bro?" Brick asked.

"Out," Boomer said simply.

"Well, pull up a chair! We wanna hear all about your little battle with blondie!" Butch exclaimed.

Boomer almost said no…almost gave an excuse to just be alone. But then he figured they would get it out of him sooner or later…might as well be now. So Boomer sat down and started to tell them about what happened after he ran away. Brick abruptly interrupted him.

"Yeah, yeah, we know this part…we were there! We followed you right after you left…watched you up in the trees. Where do you think I got the idea to attack the girls while they were by themselves?" Boomer scowled.

"It was your fault I even had that fight! She thought I was just keeping her busy while you two went and attacked her sisters, so she attacked me!" Brick and Butch both laughed while Boomer continued to scowl.

"But enough about that, get to the good stuff! What happened with that fight?" Brick insisted. Boomer kept going with his story.

"Well, after you got _knocked out cold_..." –Brick stopped smiling, which made Boomer start smiling— "I flew you up to the roof, and there she was with her sisters…" And he continued on with his story, leaving out no detail (good or bad), while his brother listened intently.

"…and then I flew off. So that's about it." Boomer finished. There was a moment's silence while Boomer's brothers soaked up the story that they had just been told. Brick was the first to speak up.

"Man…talk about redeeming yourself!"

"Yeah, man! Definite Rowdyruff material!" added Butch excitedly.

Boomer was happy…sure, he didn't need their approval. But it was nice to hear them praise him anyways.

"Boomer, I'm proud to call you my brother!" said Brick.

"Me, too…you're hardcore, dude!"

Boomer smiled at that one.

And somewhere across Townsville, for a reason not quite understood, Bubbles did too.

* * *

_And that's the end of the story! Thank you so much for reading it!  
_

_I cannot express in words how sorry I am that I took so long to upload this last chapter, I really can't. I just hope you can forgive me for the hiatus. It wasn't intentional at all, just a lot of things came into my life at once, and this story kind of took a back seat to it all. Still...I really, very sorry that I took so long to finish it. I hope it wasn't too confusing or anything. Also...I'd love to know what you thought about the characterizations of everyone. Were they close, were they way off? I'm just wondering so I can know for the future, in the event that I do another story._

_Also, I would really like to thank everyone who has reviewed it, as well as everyone who will review it in the future! If it weren't for you, this probably would've never gotten finished at all, so **thank you**! I do plan on writing more PPG stories, although when that'll actually happen remains to be seen. Just be on the lookout, all right? All right! _

_Once again, thank you for reading my story! Please review if you wish!_


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